Heidfeld Will Not Test for Mercedes GP This Winter

Although Nick Heidfeld was signed as test and reserve driver for Mercedes GP this season, the German will not see too much of this year's car prior to the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix. The former BMW racer will not get to test the new W01 for one day this off-season, as reported by the German news agency SID.

According to that report, Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug insisted that the team's main drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will get as many testing mileage as possible in the 12 days of tests remaining, meaning that Heidfeld will get none. Curiously enough, when the 32-year old driver was signed by Mercedes, everybody at Brackley and Stuttgart said he will be involved in the development of the W01 through 2010. Without a single lap of testing, we wonder how could this happen...

“It is envisaged that before the season start, Michael and Nico will get as many test miles as possible,” said Haug, according to the aforementioned source. Additionally, he said that Heidfeld has plenty of experience to replace one of Merc's current drivers without any prior testing, if that would be the case this season.

“In the unlikely event that he has to replace one of our regular drivers, Nick is well prepared to do a good job straight away,” added the German official.

Before signing the one-year deal with Mercedes GP, Heidfeld started no less than 169 grands prix in Formula One, most of them for Peter Sauber's team. He currently holds the Formula One all-time record for classified GP finishes (41), without having scored a single win in his entire F1 career.